Jim Amormino

Shortly before 11:30 a.m., the lunchtime crowd starts to gather outside the Criminal Courts Building. There are the usual throngs of reporters and photographers, the O.J. Simpson supporters, the camera-toting tourists.

An Orange County sheriff's reserve deputy was in critical condition Wednesday afternoon with severe head injuries after what appeared to be a domestic incident, authorities said. A 17-year-old male who also lives in the home in the 21000 block of Shadow Rock Lane in Rancho Santa Margarita is being questioned by investigators as a person of interest, Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said. Amormino said he could not confirm the relationship between the victim and the teenager.

A transient sought for questioning in the death of a man whose badly beaten body was found under a bridge in Huntington Beach turned himself in Wednesday, authorities said. Gilbert Garcia Jr., 41, surrendered in San Bernardino at the urging of family members, said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The victim, William Pascoe III, was found by a passerby Monday morning under a bridge at Hamilton Avenue and Brookhurst Street.

Authorities are trying to identify the body of a man discovered Wednesday on the shore of the Santa Ana River near Huntington Beach that appeared to have been in the water for days. The Orange County Sheriff's Department said the man appeared to be in his mid-20s and was wearing only shorts and a thin T-shirt. Authorities suspect that he may have been swimming or rafting in the river during last week's storms, according to sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. Investigators said they did not believe the man was a transient because of the clothes he was wearing.

A man suspected of committing two holdups in 30 minutes is believed to have used a mountain bike to travel between them, a sheriff's spokesman said Monday. "We have a witness," spokesman Jim Amormino said of Saturday's back-to-back crimes in Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo. The first robbery occurred at 1:05 p.m. at a Walgreen's at El Toro Road and Paseo de Valencia, he said, and the second took place at the Hunny's restaurant on Alicia Parkway at Geronimo Avenue.

A 40-year-old man who got a ride with a woman and her teenage granddaughter, then allegedly pulled a knife, sexually molested the girl and robbed the pair, has been arrested, authorities said Thursday. Matthew Hillinger was arrested Oct. 16 -- some 20 months after the alleged crime, said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Hillinger cut himself in the car he allegedly stole Feb. 3, 2001, Amormino said.

Orange County sheriff's deputies Tuesday seized about $250,000 worth of marijuana watered by an irrigation system in the Santa Ana Mountains. The estimated 1,000 plants, partially concealed by other foliage, were first spotted late Monday from a sheriff's helicopter on routine patrol over rugged terrain about a quarter-mile off Ortega Highway about 15 miles east of Antonio Parkway, said Jim Amormino, a sheriff's spokesman.

A young Laguna Niguel couple were discovered shot to death in their bed Wednesday, authorities said. The mother of the woman had not heard from her daughter for several days and found the couple about 2:30 p.m. in their condominium in the 100 block of Fleurance Street, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino. There were apparent gunshot wounds on both the man and the woman, whom Amormino described as being in their mid- to late 20s. Homicide investigators were at the scene, but Amormino described the sheriff's deputies as conducting a "death investigation" and was unable to specify whether the incident was a homicide or a suicide.

A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy has been relieved of duty after being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after a traffic accident while on duty in Orange County, authorities said Wednesday. Robert Andrew Moran, an 18-year veteran of the department, was en route to an investigation in Huntington Beach when his sheriff's Chevy Trailblazer collided with a Mazda at Beach and Garden Grove boulevards in Garden Grove on June 29. Two occupants of the other vehicle were taken to hospitals, one with life-threatening injuries, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

A 5-year-old girl was kidnapped Monday in Stanton by a man who asked her to help him find his dog, authorities said. The girl was abducted about 6:45 p.m. when the man approached her in the 8100 block of Laguna Court, said Jim Amormino of the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The man was seen driving away with the girl in a green Honda, Amormino said. "She was last seen screaming and kicking as he forced her into the vehicle," the Sheriff's Department said in a statement issued Monday night.

An 8-month-old puppy was stabbed seven times with a sword inside a Mission Viejo apartment, authorities said Thursday. Azure, a female Staffordshire terrier, suffered multiple wounds to her head and abdomen but survived after treatment, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino. The dog was attacked Tuesday during an argument between Justin Carrafield, 26, and a woman who may have been his girlfriend or ex-wife, Amormino said. Carrafield assaulted the woman and stabbed the dog, he said.

A South Carolina man leaped to his death from a freeway overpass in San Clemente early Wednesday and fell through the windshield of a diesel truck, but the big rig's driver was not injured, authorities said. The 25-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, jumped onto the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 at Camino de Estrella shortly after 3 a.m., falling through the windshield on the passenger side of the truck. The driver managed to pull to the side of the freeway safely, said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

A young Laguna Niguel couple were discovered shot to death in their bed Wednesday, authorities said. The mother of the woman had not heard from her daughter for several days and found the couple about 2:30 p.m. in their condominium in the 100 block of Fleurance Street, said Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino. There were apparent gunshot wounds on both the man and the woman, whom Amormino described as being in their mid- to late 20s. Homicide investigators were at the scene, but Amormino described the sheriff's deputies as conducting a "death investigation" and was unable to specify whether the incident was a homicide or a suicide.

A 51-year-old man was killed and his 12-year-old daughter critically injured early Tuesday when the car he was driving veered out of control, crashed into a tree and caught fire in Lake Forest, authorities said. After spending the day at Disneyland, Richard Ghabrial, 51, of Lake Forest was driving on Lake Forest Drive about 12:30 a.m. when his late-1990s model Toyota Corolla swerved into a tree in the center median near Serrano Road and caught fire, according to Orange County sheriff's officials.

A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy has been relieved of duty after being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after a traffic accident while on duty in Orange County, authorities said Wednesday. Robert Andrew Moran, an 18-year veteran of the department, was en route to an investigation in Huntington Beach when his sheriff's Chevy Trailblazer collided with a Mazda at Beach and Garden Grove boulevards in Garden Grove on June 29. Two occupants of the other vehicle were taken to hospitals, one with life-threatening injuries, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

A 28-year-old man died early Saturday after he was run down on the street by a man he had asked moments earlier to stop urinating in public, authorities said. Richard Zarate, 28, of Oxnard was leaving a bar in unincorporated Orange County near Anaheim with his girlfriend when he argued with a man about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

A 47-year-old woman arrested Saturday on suspicion of killing a man she lived with had stabbed him during an argument, then struggled to keep him alive, authorities said Sunday. Penny Greer was arrested shortly after the attack on Thomas Joseph Englerdt, 34, who died Saturday night after being stabbed in the chest in their apartment, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said. Greer was being held without bail in the county Central Women's Jail.

A woman found dead Saturday near Aliso Creek remains unidentified and an autopsy failed to pinpoint the cause of death, an Orange County sheriff's spokesman said Monday. The body was discovered at 11:30 a.m. by a man walking along the creek collecting wood, Jim Amormino said. The fully clothed body was found about five feet from the water and 75 yards from a jogging trail near Portola Parkway and El Toro Road in Lake Forest.

Former Olympic ice dancer Pasha Grishuk was drugged with the so-called date-rape drug GHB during a business meeting at a resort hotel but was able to seek help after spotting a pill in her drink, an Orange County sheriff's spokesman said Tuesday. Grishuk, 36, who won two Olympic gold medals for Russia in the 1990s, was at the St. Regis Monarch Beach on April 12 when she began to feel ill and numb, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. Grishuk was at a meeting with at least one man and first had a drink in a lounge while waiting for a table, Amormino said.

A woman found dead Saturday near Aliso Creek remains unidentified and an autopsy failed to pinpoint the cause of death, an Orange County sheriff's spokesman said Monday. The body was discovered at 11:30 a.m. by a man walking along the creek collecting wood, Jim Amormino said. The fully clothed body was found about five feet from the water and 75 yards from a jogging trail near Portola Parkway and El Toro Road in Lake Forest.